Friday, March 25, 2016

As I mentioned in a previous post, my brakes are Stateside. They have been for a while now, actually. I chose to leave them in the competent hands of my friends at Bulletproof Automotive at least until my aero arrives at their headquarters in California. To taunt and tease, they sent me a few shots of the brakes. I figure I may as well share.

Kit Details:

FRONT: 380MM, 8-Piston

REAR: 356MM, 6-Piston

They look pretty sick! I am excited. That said, and only going by these pictures, I am a little nervous that the color is not exactly what I want. It looks as if the orange has a bit more of a reddish tone than I had desired. I was hoping for a traditional orange, such as this:

Perhaps it is just some photo editing? Though I will say that the very first picture of my kit posted above looks to have more of that traditional orange color than the other two shots. I guess we will find out eventually…

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

I love Nissan cars. Yes, I am biased. I will not apologize for it. Though the Z33 is the car that made me fall in love with Nissan and the JDM culture, as well as the car that I have chosen as my next project (My second Z33, at that...), I fall more and more in love with the Z34 the more I see those that are modified properly. By "properly" I mean with quality, authentic parts. This is another prime example.The GaleForce Z34, much like Gene's Z34, is all over the internet. My friends at Bulletproof Automotive took on this project with, as I understand it, a great client from our North American neighbor to the north. From the absolutely beautiful paintwork to the monoblock Japanese wheels - Volk Racing TE37 Ultras, to the stunning Varis Arising II aero and the Boosted Performance turbo set-up, this Z34 is one of the nicest in North America. No, dare I say, perhaps the world.Very well done, Mr. Gale. Again, Z enthusiasts, take note. Take note…

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

As I have blogged in the past, once my aero arrives from Japan (It will be 6 months in less than two weeks!), the plan is to wrap the car in a matte blue finish. I really like the factory Daytona Blue of Nissan, so I do not want to stray too far from that, but I do want to do a matte finish. Plus, keeping the color a similar blue to factory will not make the door jambs, sills, and engine bay look too awkward or 'unfinished.'I have been searching the web for good examples of the blue that I want and have found the following pictures. Some of these pictures are not the best quality and, in others, the lighting seems a bit off, but I think this shade and finish is the basic idea of what I would like to do. I am looking forward to this part of the project.Sharp S2K with some Voltex aero and TE37SL rollers...

This appears to be a bit too teal for my taste, but I am not sure if that is just the light...

Thursday, March 10, 2016

My affinity for the parts of the Japanese Domestic Market is not based on a personal assessment of performance superiority. It is about design, quality, and attention to detail. Likely my biggest obsession of the industry, Power House Amuse is quite possibly the superlative of JDM parts. Hardly boring or run-of-the-mill, the products that come out of their facility in Chiba are not simply functional components to be admired momentarily pre-installation only to be forsaken shortly after brusque acknowledgment of any performance benefit or gain. Every Amuse part contains an all-too-real element of genuine automotive artistry. 'One-Off' Z34 Quad System…

Saturday, March 5, 2016

A few months ago I ordered some vanity plates for the Z. I had a few different ideas bouncing around in my head, but ultimately decided on 'JDMZ33'. Pretty self-explanatory. About 8 weeks later they arrived!

Ummm… What?I went back and double-checked all the paperwork. Of course, my paperwork was correct. The paperwork from the Registry of Motor Vehicles confirming my desired plate was even correct. I have no idea how this happened. I brought the plates back to the Registry and showed them their own paperwork. They apologized and informed me that they would rectify the situation. A couple months later…

Much better. However, I have to be honest… I did not realize that there would be a space between the 'Z' and the '33'. I was not anticipating any spaces and, of course, if there had to be a space, I would have put it in between the 'JDM' and the 'Z33'. I guess I did not pay close enough attention to the Massachusetts vanity license plate restrictions. Since I am a bit obsessive and anal, this will no doubt drive me bananas. However, I can live with it for a while… (Though, I will likely be ordering new plates next year.)